


The Pemberley Trap

by FlowyJoey



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Angst, Family, Fluff, Multi, Original Character(s), Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-16 12:53:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2270484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlowyJoey/pseuds/FlowyJoey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Two 11 year old girls from different sides of the globe meet at summer camp, and realise they have more in common than just strikingly similar faces, and a mutual love of pranks. Yes, it's the Lizzie Bennet Diaries meets The Parent Trap. New chapter every thursday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I know a lot of people in the fandom have thought about a Parent Trap AU, so I thought I'd take a whack at it (sorry, I quote the movie a lot). I'll try and upload a new chapter at some point every thursday evening (UK time), but I hope you enjoy it, and any comments would be great!

Prologue

October 28th 2016

"You're full of shit, William."

Lizzie spat her words out, and threw her hairdryer in his general direction - no intention to injure; no intention to leave her husband with any doubt over the strength of her emotions. It clearly clipped a finger or two of his hand that had just put down a check book of his from a few years ago. He whipped the hand away with a faint gasp, before shaking off the pain and bounding after his wife, who had swept out into the hallway after the hairdryer had left her grasp. "'My good opinion once lost is lost forever'. Isn't that what you said? You can't forgive William, not unless they turn you on."

He caught up with her at the top of the staircase, and placed a hand on her shoulder. At this she turned around to face him; fighting back the tears.

"Lizzie, what the hell_"

"I should've trusted my first impression of you. I married a slimy, sociopathic robot after all." She turned back around and flew down the stairs. "If you think anybody is somehow less than you, then you do toss them aside, don't you? No thought for their happiness or welfare - just leave them out on their own in the rain." By now her voice had reached a volume she didn't think she was capable of when communicating with him.

"Lizzie, have you completely lost your mind!" He ran ahead and stopped in front of her path towards the entry hall. "Has everything you've ever learnt since we first met been wiped from your memory?"

At this, she stopped. "Oh I remember, William, even if a lot of it was all just hypothetical."

"You can't begrudge me that surely!" His face was now animated in a way only she could bring out, and in this instance, it was through anger. "He deserved it!"

"Oh, so you're talking about the deserving and undeserving poor now, are you?" She reached into the lounge and picked up her phone from the bookcase near the door. "Because you rich people work so much harder than us, don't you?" She yelled with her familiar exaggerated sarcasm.

"Don't make this about class."

"How is it not about class, William?" Her tears started to roll down her cheeks a lot quicker now. "You've been picking out their schools since before we even knew there were two of them, and you haven't even considered a public school, have you?"

"Lizzie, you don't understand anything about what it means to have this_"

"_money? Oh do please tell me about the struggles of the rich. I'm sure I have no idea about what it's like to worry about financial matters."

"There's different responsibilities that you have to think of. You can't just go throwing it about here and there." His voice was loud and curt.

"You know, I'm not so sure that if I pulled off your skin, I wouldn't find your aunt under there saying these words!" She reached down and picked up her handbag by the door.

"Lizzie, what are you doing_"

Her voice was more controlled now. "Like I said before: I do feel sorry for the poor woman who ends up with you for life, because it's not going to be me." At this, William didn't respond, but rather stared at her with his mouth slightly open. The shock and hurt was evident in his face. She hadn't seen it like that since the day four years ago when he'd first confessed his feelings. Lizzie opened the door and was halfway out when she turned back around. "There's enough breast milk in the refrigerator."

Lizzie shut the door behind her. The last William heard of her that day was the sound of her car fading into the distance.


	2. Arrival at Camp Walden

June 3rd 2028

Annie

She'd had to spend what felt like a fortune to her on public transport from the airport to the school bus pickup point on some dusty street corner in the nearest city. She had never travelled anywhere alone before; unsurprising considering she wasn't yet twelve years old. Whilst her aunt Lydia had accompanied her on the flight from LHR to Bangor International (she was keen to see the "shopping highlights" of the city – Annie could tell when she was just being a very protective aunt), Annie had had to go it alone from Bangor to the street corner on Mt Hope Avenue, and then onwards to the camp. Saying goodbye at the airport had been a bizarre experience, though made a little bit easier by the Bennet family's customary "hello/goodbye" dance, which never failed to elicit the biggest smiles from Annie and her aunt Lydia. Handing over the bus fare had also been a bit unnerving; it did seem like a lot of money for one journey, but she was told that it just feels like more because of the exchange rate with the pound. Annie couldn't quite grasp any of that yet, despite the fact that she was in the top maths set last year in school. She'd sat in complete silence on the bus to the camp – everybody else seemed to be familiar with each other, or at least familiar enough with the world around them to try and be familiar with everyone else – and it was only when the bus stopped at the front of the main campsite did Annie dare make a noise.

"Bennet, Annie!" A white-haired woman shouted into a megaphone.

"Here!" She replied, stepping forward with her bags, as a younger woman approached her with a clipboard in hand.

"Annie Bennet, from London, UK?"

"That's me."

"Ok, is this your first time in America?"

"No, but first time in Maine."

"Well, from all of us Mainiacs, welcome to our little state, and welcome to Camp Walden!" The younger lady handed her a folded map. "You'll be in hut 59. It's just along the track and down to the lake, but first," she pointed to the large hut in front of the melee of people and bags and buses, "you need to go register. Won't take long."

"Thanks!" Annie headed off towards the large hut whilst listening to the other names being called out, and wondering if any of them will also be in her hut 59.

Charlie

"We're here!"

Charlie was woken out of her daydream by her aunt's squeal at the sight of the sign displaying the words "Camp Walden" through the windows of the limo. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been thinking about (perhaps only how clear and blue the sky looked when she lowered the tinted windows and let the wind blow through), but it was clear upon awaking from the daydream that aunt Gigi was far more interested in arriving than she was.

"Do you want to take my place instead?" Charlie smiled.

"Are you serious? I mean, I'd love to, but don't you want to go?"

"No! no, I mean that is…yes," she stuttered.

"Ok, you really do sound like your father right now." Gigi smiled.

"I'll be clearer: I do want to go, it's just…you seem more enthusiastic about it than even me. I mean, I'm excited, but camp isn't that exciting!"

"Camp isn't that exciting? Charlie, I haven't been on camp in years and man, have I missed it!" Gigi emphasised her excitement as she got out the limo and walked round to her niece whilst the chauffeur James unloaded the bags. "Now, I know what you're like, Charlie."

"Oh?" She stuck her chin up a bit higher, with a hint of grin.

"Yes. You don't give other people much of a chance before you judge them, or show off your latest top market app. You can't go doing any of that here, because there's going to be people from all over who do not have the same privileges in life that we do, and you can't go attacking them for something beyond their control." By the end of this short lecture, Charlie had rolled her eyes all the way round and had tapped away at some of the dirt with her left shoe.

"Yes aunt Gigi." She muttered, staring at the ground.

"In any case, I'm not so sure that that Samsung is going to be of great use here." Gigi smiled as she brought her niece into a tight hug.

"What do you mean by that?" Charlie spoke into her aunt's waist.

"You'll see!" She crouched down so she was at eye level with her. "If there's anything you need, then just ring, you know. Other than that though, see you in eight weeks, honey." With one last kiss on the head, she stood to full height and got in the limo again. As the chauffeur drove off back down the drive, Charlie picked up her bags and headed towards where the main crowd of people seemed to be milling around.

"Darcy, Charlotte!"

"Present!" She dropped her bags in her left hand and waved.

Annie

Upon entering the large hall, she could see short queues of people lining from one end to another, and at the front of them sat a staff member at an exam desk with letters stuck on it. She assumed the queues were organised by the first letter of surnames, and so Annie joined the back of the "A-C" queue. The lines might not have been filled with many people (probably due to the 26 different letters which one's surname could begin with, she thought to herself), but they certainly weren't moving steadily. It seemed that they had a lot to tell each new camp member. This didn't fill Annie with much confidence, as a taller girl with a dark dirt coloured Game of Thrones t-shirt (she recognised the logo from the favourites list on the family Netflix account) pushed in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she tapped the girl on the shoulder, "but you cut in front of me. You need to go to the back of the queue."

"So what? Doesn't matter. Don't need to do anything."

"No, but I was here before. You can't cut in like that."

"Hey, are you from England?" The corner of the girl's mouth tilted up slightly.

"Yeah." Annie wasn't in the mood to coddle any potential anglophiles by talking about 'living near the royal family' (not that she did), or 'One Direction' (middle-aged 'boy bands' were not her thing).

"Well then I'm sure you're too posh to fight me over it."

Annie's hands clenched into fists. It's true that she had no intention of using these fists on this..this..she wasn't even going to label her anything in her mind. It didn't mean that she couldn't. She may not have exactly grown up on a London estate (hell, her and her mum and aunt had quite a nice terrace house in Lambeth), but she had learnt a few things from the friends she'd made during her first year at the comprehensive secondary school nearby, and they were not to be messed with.

She replied with a short flick of her middle finger, which was not nearly as covert as it should have been.

"Young lady!" The same white-haired lady that had called her name before (though clearly she couldn't remember her name) tapped her on the shoulder. "I don't want to see anything of that sort again at this camp! Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ms." Annie spoke with the same droll monotone voice that every pupil at her school seemed to use in reply whenever a teacher would announce 'Good morningYear Sevens' at the beginning of assembly. This was going to be quite a culture shock. She'd never been in America for a whole eight weeks before (usually only just one over Christmas, when mum and aunt Lydia would visit their parents and sister in California), and she was going to need every bit of ingenuity she had not to cave in and lose her mind.

The queue was moving a lot quicker now, thank god. If it hadn't of been for the girl in front, she would be being attended to right this second. But no matter. She unclenched her fists and relaxed; taking in a bit more of the hall around her.

Charlie

She'd finally made it to the front of the D-F queue and stated her name:

"Charlotte Darcy."

"Darcy…Charlotte," the large woman sat behind the desk said as she scanned down the list for her name, "from San Francisco, CA?"

"That's me!"

"Well, Charlotte – can I call you Charlotte?"

"Charlie, ideally."

"Well Charlie, if nobody's told you yet, you're in hut 60. It's just opposite the lake."

"There's 60 different huts?"

"A lot of those huts are supply huts and staff huts, and there's no hut 13 of course!" Charlie winced at the superstition. "The main things you need to remember is that there is to be no sugary drinks or food consumed in the huts. Breakfast is at 7am, lunch at 12pm, and dinner at 6pm. Any mess or problem with the hut is to be reported immediately to a member of staff, and as I'm sure you're aware, the wifi has been switched off."

"Switched off?" Charlie's could feel the blood rushing from her face. "What the hell?!"

"That's better my dear!" A white-haired lady chattered to her all of a sudden. "Less vulgarity in that!"

Charlie turned to her. "I'm sorry?"

"Well dear, I told you profanity would not be tolerated at this camp, just now, and in my books 'hell' is not a profane word. You're lucky it was me who heard it though." She started to whisper, "Mrs Roderick would've clipped your ear for that!"

Charlie tucked her head into her chin. She didn't want to argue or disagree with a member of staff, but this was not making any sense. "Forgive me Ms, but what did I do just now?"

"You gave the old middle finger to that girl in front of you_" The lady turned round and pointed at the A-C line the other side of her. "Oh, well that's funny. Did you realise you were in the wrong line, my dear? I understand. Not much can get past Mrs Marva Kulp, you know!" The white-haired lady began humming to herself as she strolled off towards the back of the hall.

Charlie turned back to the woman behind the registration desk. "Sorry, but why is the wifi turned off? How am I supposed to survive without knowing what's going on in the outside world? How can I contact my family without paying? How am I meant to keep myself entertained?" She was getting almost frantic in her questions by the time the other woman replied.

"So you don't get distracted by the outside world, of course! Just try and shut off for eight weeks; no worries or stresses from your normal life."

"But what if the markets crash? What if war is declared?!"

The woman smiled. "Then I'm sure you will be duly alerted." She looked back at her list again. "And in any case, I'm sure your mother managed fine without wifi when she went on girl's camp at your age."

"Yeah, if I knew who she was" she muttered as she walked off with her bags, after being handed her welcome pack full of information.


	3. Pride and Paintballing

A week into the camp, and Annie Bennet had managed to become acquainted with all five other roomies in her hut, and had even befriended two of them (the two that had shut up about her accent the quickest). Isabella Santos from Placedo, TX, and Michelle Daniels from Ellisville, IN, seemed to hang onto every word she said about life in London and the UK. Whilst she did often ask about their home states, the conversation more often than not turned to British entertainment, UK schools, and the history of Britain, and Annie was only too happy to satisfy her friends' appetite to hear about these things (she could after all talk about medieval Britain all day – it was one of her favourite topics in history lessons).

Charlie Darcy had had similar success with befriending the inhabitants of hut 60; the attraction for the others of having a rich friend had been offset by the snobby and stand off-ish first impression people often made about the young San Franciscan. She had always been told by aunt Gigi that she was incredibly like her father in temperament (and heart), and her aunt would go quiet for a good minute or so whenever she mentioned this, and how it can affect first impressions. Charlie had on numerous occasions asked what was wrong, but Gigi had always brushed it off and bounced away. Charlie too had managed to become adequately acquainted with all her hut, and become close with two of them; Hannah Sparks from Enterprise, AL, and Jessy Powell from Portland, OR. They were two very friendly girls. Two very friendly girls who were, whilst perfectly sincere in their admiration for their new buddy, were also certainly willing to be indulged in hearing about the latest tech news, and having the latest apps shared with them (illegally - probably).

It was in the middle of one morning after the first week had passed, that hut 60 went down to the edge of the forest (after sharing another app) to try their hand at paintballing.

"Okay, okay. Hut 59, it looks like you've got yourselves some opponents." Ms Kulp (Junior) bellowed to Annie and her roomates, who were already kitted up. She turned to address the approaching girls. "Am I right, ladies?"

"Indeed you are." Hannah replied.

"Well that's great. All six of you? Fantastic. Equal numbers then. Now, we're going to have a game of catch the flag. Do you guys know how this works?" She was met with a few shakes of heads, though two emphatic nods from Annie and Charlie. "Let me explain then. The playing arena, which is in the forest here, is split into two territories. One for each team. Each team has a flag which is placed at the back of their territory. Your team's job is to collect the other team's flag and take it back to your territory before the other team does the same to your flag. If however, you're not careful, you can be tagged in the other team's territory. If that happens, you have to be freed by a teammate touching you. You can get tagged by being shot. Is that clear?"

By now, the shaking heads had turned into nodding, and Annie and Charlie, who were now both kitted out, were wearing confident smiles behind their face masks.

"That's fantastic, girls. Now, Annie Bennet from hut 59 has generously donated a red bowtie to be her team's flag. Hut 60, I need flag from you. Can't be too big, or too camouflaged in colour. Something quite bright and light to carry."

The girls rummaged round their bags that they'd brought with them. Nothing seemed to spring out to them as fitting that description very well, until Charlie let out a large sigh and reached much further into her rucksack.

"Would this do, Ms Kulp?" She groaned, pulling out a navy blue and white plaid shirt.

"Perfect." The young woman murmured, pondering on how both of these girls had pulled out two such strange items of clothing from their bags, and what they were doing there.

She proceeded to walk round the edge of the forest before ducking in to place the plaid shirt in its position at the back of hut 60's territory. "Now, hut 59 you'll start in line with this tree here," she pointed to a tree on the edge of the forest near to them with a yellow line marked on it, "and hut 60, you need to walk all the way down there and start in line with the tree on the edge of the forest with the red line on it. The edge of the territories is marked in the forest with a long white line sprayed onto the ground. If there's an emergency in the game, then repeatedly blow your whistle. Anyone found to be blowing their whistle unnecessarily will automatically lose the game for their team. Otherwise, I and a number of other camp staff will be standing at the halfway point. I will blow this airhorn in five minutes exactly to start the game, so go on hut 60. Get moving!" With that, she ushered off the girls.

"Right, I think we should split up into pairs." Annie began. "Two pairs go into the enemy territory to get the plaid shirt, and the remaining two people patrol our territory and tag them if they come over." She saw the others nod along. That was enough support to enable her to continue. "We go in pairs across the line so that there's someone to unstick anyone who gets shot, and to shoot anyone in defense if someone's shooting them."

"But we can't tag people if they're in their own territory." Isabella declared.

"No, but we can stop them trying to tag us if we just shoot them right back, yes?" They nodded along again. "Now, I think I'll go over the line with Michelle. Isabella you can go over with Jade, and Tori and Ashley can patrol our territory. Does that sound ok?" The nods were more emphatic this time, as they paired up and stood in line ready to start.

The airhorn went, and Annie charged forward with Michelle; both trying to navigate through the trees, bushes, and undergrowth whilst keeping a scanning eye out for any opponents or the half way mark that would signal that they were in enemy territory. Eventually they found the white line across the ground and spotted a member of camp staff patrolling the line. As they entered into hut 60's territory, their paced dropped down to a slow and hesitant walk; careful to hide behind trees and make as little noise as possible when there was even the slightest rustle from nearby.

"What's that over there?" Annie whispered to Michelle as she pointed to something that looked white and blue.

"It looks like it's staying still, so it's probably not them."

"You're right." Annie began to creep forward a bit faster. "We've got to be quick. Smooth and quiet, but quick."

Michelle started to scan around for enemies a lot quicker now, as they got close enough to be able to confirm that this was the plaid shirt they'd spotted. As they got even closer, it became clear that it would require someone with a bit more height than Michelle to retrieve this shirt, as it was hanging from a tall branch. Luckily, Annie was remarkably tall for her age, as she often pointed out to other people. It took a couple of jumps for her to grab it, and as soon as she had it firmly within her grasp, she sped off back the way they came, without much thought for her partner, who was slower.

"Michelle, there's the line, only a few hundred feet away. We've almost made it!" She muttered to her friend. When she heard no reply, she looked round, finding nothing but the usual trees and wildlife. "Michelle?" She spoke again as something hard collided with her left shoulder. She looked down at the dollop of paint. Yep, she was hit.

"Tag. You're it!" Charlie emerged from behind a bush; a red line on her mask to signify her team, and a cheesy nametag. "Oh, but where's your partner you've been buddying with?"

"You tagged her, didn't you?" Annie replied bitterly.

"Yeah, I did." She admitted. "If you run back now you may be able to find her and untag her oh! But you can't can you? Because you're tagged now.

"How the hell did you find us?

"Well you were pretty easy to find." She snatched the plaid shirt from the other girl's hand.

"No we weren't! We weren't going very fast or carelessly."

"No, but you were easy to find with Illuminate Me." Charlie pulled down her left cuff to reveal a smartwatch.

"Illuminate Me…so is that some kind of app then?" Annie could feel her face turning red. It was a good thing the mask wasn't giving anything away.

"Yeah. My dad's company developed it. It lets you geotag videos, photos, music, messages and general vibration alerts, and of course I've shared it with my roomies' phones."

"So you've been sending information about my team's location to each other, and you get some kind of alert whenever they get near to a sighting?"

"Yeah, you're pretty good at this!"

"My mum works in digital media too." Anger started to rise in Annie's voice. "That's cheating!"

"She said nothing about using technology in the rules."

At that moment, cheers began to erupt from behind them, before the airhorn blew again and a voice in a megaphone cried out,

"Hut 60 crosses the line with the bowtie and wins! Everybody back to the edge of the forest."

As Charlie began to walk off with a swagger in her step (which might have been partly down to the bulky protective clothing), Annie stood there watching in silence. There was nothing more irritating and anger-inducing to her than cocky, rich Americans using their privilege to get ahead. On top of that, this American had gone and wounded her pride. She couldn't simply laugh it off now. No way. This was going to get serious.

Eventually Annie made it out of the forest and back to the rest of the group. They began to take off the protective gear, as Ms Kulp Jr encouraged them all to shake hands with one another. This happened without too much of a problem, until an unmasked Charlie came to shake hands with Annie, who had her back turned to her and still had her mask on.

"Annie, shake hands with Charlie. C'mon." Ms Kulp demanded.

With a huge humph, Annie removed her mask and turned round to see Charlie's face; only to be greeted with what she swore for the first eleven years of her life was her face. Her face alone.


	4. Pranks and Prejudice

"Why are we doing this again?" Isabella asked as she shoved another sheet of paper underneath a hut door.

"Why? Did I hear you just ask 'why', my comrade?" Annie led her two close friends from camp down from the hut porch. "The reason, my dear Watson, is elementary."

"You know Holmes never actually said that in the books." Michelle chimed in.

"Oh hush! Who is the Brit here? Anyway, the reason, is that we were beaten, and we were beaten using the most awful, pernicious, malicious, deceiving and downright vain way imaginable." Her friends looked at her with their eyebrows knotted together at Annie's colourful vocabulary. "We were beaten using the sheer privilege of one Charlotte Darcy, and her precious father's digital media company."

"It was my own fault getting tagged for being too slow. There's no reason to take it out on her." Michelle replied.

"No that's exactly what she wants you to think!" Annie led the way onto the next hut porch and slipped the paper underneath the door. "She wants to you to feel like it's your own fault, so that she feels vindicated!"

"I don't even know what that word means!" Isabella exclaimed.

"Surely you've got a dictionary on your phone? No matter. They cheated, and Charlie was the means, thanks to that app, and her wealth and privilege. We have to right this wrong, and make her feel the sting of humiliation that the rich often make the less fortunate feel."

"And are you sure this is the right way to do it?" Isabella responded.

"I trust my gut, and my gut is always right!"

 

Charlie collapsed onto her bed in hut 60 at 3:30pm that afternoon after a hard hour of rock climbing. The pain in her arms made her believe that over the next 24 hours her muscles would grow to be the size of Popeye's (and that wall was her spinach), but somewhere at the back of her mind she knew that that probably wasn't going to happen. The disappointment didn't last long, as she reached for her phone to see whether any of her friends or family had sent her anything. Upon seeing the little envelope sign with no number next to it to indicate a new message, she saw the little symbol telling her that she had a new voicemail, and she wasted no time in addressing this.

"You have…122 new messages."

Charlie almost fell off the bed in shock at this. 122? She thought.

122 NEW messages? What the hell has happened?

"Message one."

"HARRY DIDYA PUT YA NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIYAH" a voice cried out.

Charlie paused as she took in what she just heard.

She couldn't. She simply couldn't. Charlie had always thought it was the people of the internet indulging in hyperbole and over-dramatics when they typed out utterances like ?, or I CAN'T, but at the present moment, she began to understand that this might not be the case. Determined to understand this bizarre message even more, she pressed on with the remaining 121.

"Message two."

"Have a biscuit, Potter" declared a stern voice in some kind of European accent. Was it Irish? Scottish? She wasn't quite sure. It didn't sound very good, whatever accent it was.

"Message three."

"It's Wingardium LeviOsa, not LevioSA!" A high pitch voice squeaked.

The cogs were beginning to turn again in Charlie's mind. She recognised that quote…she thought. She might have been wrong.

"Message four."

"Turn to page three hundred and ninety…four."

That didn't even sound like a young girl's voice! What adult has been sending her Harry Potter quotes?

Ah! That was it! Harry Potter. She knew she recognised them somewhere.

"Message five."

"Hey Charlie!" Finally someone who wasn't sending anonymous quotes! "It's aunt Gigi." Charlie's face erupted with a smile. "I hope you're doing ok at camp! We sure are missing you at home. Call me back when you get the chance. I've got some pretty important and urgent information for you." Her aunt's tone grew far more serious just then. Thanks, love you, bye!"

Charlie began to ponder on what this information could be. She also wondered whether any more of these messages were from her aunt, and so, she decided to plough on.

"Message six."

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH! Oh no! Oh gosh, I'm sorry, that's a bad word. Please forgive me."

Ugh. This was going to take a long time.

It wasn't until thirty two messages later (thirty two messages filled with different interpretations of quotes from Snape, Dumbledore, and other characters that she had already heard before) did Charlie find another one of interest.

"Message thirty eight."

"Hey Charlie." Her aunt's voice sounded a bit different this time. "I hope you've been having a great time today doing…whatever kids do in the wild these days!" She sounded almost upset. "I've just called to tell you that everyone back home is doing ok. Your father though has had to be admitted into hospital. He's had a really bad cough ever since he came back from his trip to Rio a couple of days ago. They're not quite sure but they think it might be pneumonia. I'll keep you informed, but it doesn't seem to be too serious at the moment. Love you loads! Bye!"

Charlie didn't like the sound of this. She wasn't aware of her father spending much time in Southern America, but then she often didn't know about the more impromptu business trips of her father's until a day or two beforehand, so it didn't seem too out of the ordinary. She just hoped that her father was ok, as she continued to battle through the messages of "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON", "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good", and "One can never have enough socks".

"Message sixty one."

"Hey Charlie, it's aunt Gigi again." She sounded as if she had been crying. "I'm sorry to disturb you with more bad news, but I'm afraid your father's taken a bit of a turn for the worst. I won't go into too much detail, but he's sweating and shivering and coughing up blood, and going in and out of a coma at the moment due to his difficult breathing." That was too much information. "I'm sorry you're so far away, as I know you'd probably prefer to be here right now with him. I'll call you if there's any change."

Charlie didn't know how to respond to this. Her aunt was right, she wanted to be right there in San Francisco with them right now, even if it did sound all a bit too gory for her. She felt so powerless stuck out here in the wilderness (and without wifi). She was frantically playing and quickly stopping and deleting each and every Harry Potter related message now in order to get to any important ones.

"Message one hundred and two." Charlie snorted a bit at hearing this automated voice say such a high number, and then quickly suppressed it when she heard her aunt's voice.

"Charlie," her aunt paused, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Everything happened so quickly. You're going to have to come home for the funeral. It's pencilled in for next Tuesday, and we're going to send a limo for you to go to the airport tomorrow." Her aunt's sobs flooded through the phone, as Charlie felt the whole world shatter around her. She couldn't believe it. "I'm sorry you couldn't be there, but just know that he loved you very dearly. Your mom and I were holding his hand at the very end, and it was quite peaceful. He just slipped into a coma and dropped off. Call me back as soon as you get this so we can organise your arrival plans. I love you so very much my dear. See you soon."

She couldn't believe it.

Her mother? No, this didn't ring true anymore.

But that voice sounded so much like her aunt's!

It sounded like Charlie's freakishly accurate impression of her aunt.

No, she knew exactly what was going on here.

She ended the voicemail call and started dialing her aunt herself. After a couple of rings, she picked up.

"Hey Charlie!" Her voice was as energetic and lively as per usual. "How's camp going?"

"It's going…fine. How is everyone?"

"Everyone's…fine."

"Really? How's dad?"

"He's good. In fact, he's great!"

This was all Charlie needed to hear. She couldn't hear what her aunt was saying anymore anyway, as the blood boiling in her head was causing a ringing in her ear.

"That's great, but I gotta go now. I hear the dinner bell ringing! See ya aunt Gigi!" With that, she hung up.

As she paced around the hut, all she could think of as she went through the remaining Harry Potter messages (which were being added to as time passed by more anonymous voices) was the sheer humiliation that she felt. How could she have been fooled so easily? And hurt so badly by four little voicemail messages?

Annie Bennet was the answer, and Annie Bennet was the person that was going to feel the humiliation next.

 

"You should've seen her face when she went to dinner that evening. She looked like she was going to be sick every few minutes!" Annie joked to Michelle and Isabella as they stripped off and climbed into the shower cubicles.

"You don't think that was a bit cruel?" Michelle questioned hesitantly, as she turned on the water and tried to avoid the icy jets as much as possible before it would begin to warm up.

"Yeah, maybe. But hey! She was gullible enough to believe it," Annie shouted over the sound of the water as she turned round to wash her back, "and she got to hear some really talented campers reciting some of JK Rowling's greatest quotes. If that's not entertaining enough for her far superior tastes then I don't know what is."

At that moment, Annie could've sworn she heard the sound of fabric falling off the floor. She couldn't see whether a towel had fallen off the hooks on the wall, due to the cubicle's wooden swing door (even though she was pretty tall for her age). It would be no problem though. Nothing to worry about.

Eventually all three girls had decided that they were clean enough, and couldn't spend any longer in the lovely warm showers otherwise they'd risk having free activity time taken away from them for wasting water. As soon as they stepped out of their cubicles and immediately lunged forward for their towels, they could see that they weren't hanging up, and they weren't on the floor either.

"Oh god" Isabella muttered as she frantically searched round all the other empty showers.

"I heard footsteps earlier, but I thought that it was just one of you two moving about a bit." Michelle was beginning to dig a bit deeper into this mystery.

"Someone stole them, and I think I know exactly whom." Annie mumbled, with a hint of disgust in her tone.

At that moment, Isabella screamed and the other two turned round to find a large spider crawling their way. This spider was almost as large as Annie's foot, which it was now approaching at a worrying speed. The girls had no choice but to run out the only exit and straight into the broad daylight which greeted them outside (as well as the other girls who were gearing up for a game of Ultimate). The shock and surprise on their faces and the faces of other passers-by was matched in contortion to the shock, humiliation, and fear on the faces of the three girls from hut 59. They immediately ran to the nearest scattering of trees to hide themselves, and were shortly greeted by Ms Kulp Senior, with three clean towels.

"Oh dear, girls. I'm so terribly sorry. What in the name of Freddie Prinze Junior happened?"

"It was-it was Charlie Darcy! She took our towels and then set a huge spider loose!" Annie protested.

"Yes, and it was a massive spider!" Isabella started to quake, either from cold, or the memory of the eight-legged surprise.

"Oh Annie, what happened?" Just at that moment, Charlie walked by and stopped upon seeing the girls in the towels. "You look like you've seen the ghost of my father!"

"You!" Annie tried to launch herself at her look-alike, but stopped where she was upon realising that the towel (and her nakedness underneath) restricted her ability to fight.

"Ghost of her father?" Ms Kulp interrupted. "Please someone enlighten as to what has been going on here!"

Charlie stepped forward towards Annie before yelling, "she impersonated my aunt and sent me prank calls saying my dad had died!"

"Does this have something to do with all these sheets telling of a…'competition' to call in and recite your favourite Harry Potter quote to win a prize of $500?" Ms Kulp pulled out a poster and showed it to the girls. Charlie grabbed hold of it and looked over it with revulsion.

"How did you get hold of my number?"

"You shouldn't leave it lying around whilst you're doing watersports." Annie crossed her arms whilst trying to cover herself with the towel. "What gave it away?"

"Oh, you're impression of my aunt was uncanny," Charlie said smugly, "but one little thing gave it away; you mentioned my mom. My mom left when I was a baby, and I don't even know if she's still alive. She wouldn't even know that my dad was dying, let alone come visit him."

"I'm sorry Annie, but you really did that? That is a terrible thing to do my dear! Invasion of privacy and cruel prank calls!" Ms Kulp directed to Annie.

"You're talking to me about invasion of privacy? After what she did just now?!" The young Brit replied.

"You are right. What you both did to each other is despicable, appallingly cruel, and completely against the moral standard that we try and exhibit here at Camp Walden. Both of you will lose free activity time for the rest of the camp." At this both girls let out a groan. "And both of you, go back to your huts and pack. It's to the isolation cabin for you!"


	5. Right Down the Middle

"It's no use." Annie broke the silence in the isolation cabin. "When are you going to give up? There's no signal here."

Charlie sat on her bed the opposite side of the room, desperately trying to listen to get onto the internet.

"I never give up." She replied to her hut mate's insistence.

"You sound like a Hollywood script." Annie's eyes lifted up from the magazine she was reading.

"I'm from San Francisco."

"Same state."

"Still, it's a great motto to live by." Charlie lifted up her nose as she continued to tap away at her phone furiously.

"It's a ridiculous motto."

"How so? Isn't it good to try and try again until you succeed?"

Annie looked up from her magazine again. "Only when it's good that you succeed. What if it would be better to not succeed? Or to use your energy in other ways that would be a better?" At this Charlie paused with her what Annie thought were very beady little eyes, on Annie. Annie's eyes were never as beady as that. Nope. Never.

With her hut mate's attention fixed on her, she continued. "Wouldn't it be better to just focus on enjoying yourself than worry about the fact that your 7G won't work?"

Charlie shifted on her bed. "It's 8G actually."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Annie had picked up her mother's sarcasm, she could tell. "I should've guessed!"

"What do you think I was trying to do? Make myself really depressed by reading sob stories about children with terminal illnesses, and blind-deaf dogs on the internet?"

"Well I don't know how the rich chose to coddle themselves even more over the fact that they donate all this money to charity. Reading the sob stories is a pretty good guess, I think." Annie looked down and flicked over the page.

"Ok," Charlie dropped her phone onto the bed, "you do realise that we don't always donate money to charity just to make ourselves feel good, don't you? Sure, most rich people have lived their life in privilege, knowing nothing of financial hardship, and they only give money to charity because they think they should, and not because their heart is truly in it. But my family's not like that. We do honestly care about helping these causes, and we choose the ones we feel most strongly about. We're not really excessive in how we live, and we do understand and support the idea that the rich need to pay way more in taxes because we have an advantage, and that needs to change. I would've thought you might not have judged me before you even knew me."

"I wasn't going to judge you on your wealth, but then you used that Illuminate Me app to cheat and win." Annie's voice seemed less confrontational now, and more hurt than anything else.

At this, Charlie sighed. She guessed that you could have said that she started it. In this case, she had been indulging herself in her privilege, which she didn't normally do unless amongst new people whom she wasn't familiar with.

"I could have very easily forgiven your pride if you had not hurt my pride." Annie spoke again.

"I am very sorry for that, Annie Bennet." Charlie looked Annie in the eye with what Annie now detected to be a strong sense of honesty and almost humility. "Truly, I am."

Annie let the corners of her mouth tilt upwards slightly. "I accept your apology, Charlie Darcy." Annie felt her cheeks turn red a bit. "And I guess, if we're talking about pride, I have been a bit too smug about my nationality."

"Yeah you have. You wouldn't stop going on the other day about all the overpowering American patriotism there is around camp, with the flag and all, and how in Britain you're all a lot less patriotic and far more negative about your country." Now it was Charlie's turn to smile. "Which is actually pretty hypocritical really, considering that everything bad the US has done, Britain has done before!"

"Yeah, yeah." Annie smiled before letting out a little chuckle. "We've both been a bit silly, haven't we?"

"'A bit' is a bit of an understatement!"

"Well, 'a bit of an understatement' is a bit of an understatement!" Annie was now beaming.

"Ok ok, let's not get into that!"

Once they had finished laughing, Annie felt it was right to start to try and get to know her hut mate a bit better; better than just first impressions, at least.

"So Charlie, I know you live in San Francisco with your dad and you don't know anything about your mum-"

"Well, I know that they got divorced. I saw my dad fill in a form one time and he said that he was single and divorced."

"Ok, but what about your aunt? Does she live with you? Is she married, or have a partner?"

"Nah. I think I remember seeing her with one, maybe two partners, but that's about it. She has her own place in the city, but she spends most of her time with me and dad. My grandparents died about 20, or 22 years ago now, we're the only family she has."

"Oh, that's sad."

"Yeah, but we're a close family. It's nice!"

"Well, that's good then. My mum was born and raised in California, but she moved to London shortly after I was born. I'm not quite sure why, but I think it might have something to do with my dad."

"What about your dad?"

"Well, I don't know anything about him. I grew up in London with my mum and aunt Lydia. We go over to California every Christmas to visit my grandparents and aunt Jane and her husband and children, but nobody talks about dad."

"I know the feeling!" Charlie moved over to sit on the end of Annie's bed; keen to know more about her ex-enemy turned friend. "So when's your birthday?"

"I'll be 12 on the 11th October."

"No way. Same here!"

"You were born on 11th October 2016?"

"Yeah!"

"Freaky." Annie whispered. "Anyway, what were you trying to do on the internet?"

"Oh, I just wanted to stream a movie."

"What movie was that?" Annie's curiosity spiked. Maybe if they even got out of the isolation cabin and back into the main camp where there's decent signal, they might be able to watch it together.

"Ah, nothing much." Now it was Charlie's turn to blush. "Honestly? I wanted to watch Newsies."

"Seriously? I love that movie!"

"Really? Me too! My dad and aunt think it's weird how much I love it. They always go really silent whenever I talk about it."

"That's odd, so does my mum."

"Now that's freaky!" Charlie emphasised.

"Yeah…" The cogs in Annie's brain were beginning to turn. "You see, my mum had a newsie hat tucked away in her wardrobe, along with that red bowtie that I used as the flag. I don't have the hat with me now, but she did seem strangely protective of it."

"My dad often wears bowties and newsie style hats."

"Does he?" Annie's inquisitiveness was reaching new heights. "You see, my mum use to wear a lot of plaid when she was studying her postgraduate degree. I've seen a few photos of her wearing some from that time."

"I think plaid seems to be really popular amongst moms." Charlie didn't seem to be following Annie's line of thought. "I have a photo of my mom wearing the plaid shirt I used as the flag."

"You do?!" Annie was taken aback.

"Yeah, but it's a terrible photo. I mean, it's from years and years ago, and her body's facing the camera, but she's clearly talking to someone to the left of her but I don't know who because it's been ripped right down the middle." Charlie rattled on, but at this information, Annie jumped up off the bed and walked towards her chest of drawers, where, on top of it, sat a tin.

Annie opened her tin, and pulled out a piece of paper; keeping one side close to her chest, she turned round to face Charlie.

"What have you got there?" Charlie inquired.

"It's a photo from years and years ago of my dad. He's wearing a red bowtie and a grey newsie cap. It's a darker shade of red from the one I brought with me, and the newsie cap my mum has is brown, but still…I know it's my dad. He seems to be facing the camera, and is looking towards someone smaller than him, sat to his right, but I don't know who because it's ripped."

Charlie stared at her as it began to sink in. "Right down the middle?"

"Right down the middle."

At this, Charlie jumped up too, and rummaged about her belongings to find the photo of her mum. She also kept the side with the picture on close to her chest as she turned around to face Annie.

"On the count of three?" Annie asked.

"Yeah.

"One," they began to say together, "two…", "three!"

A gasp escaped the mouths of both the girls, as they saw that both of their photos fitted together perfectly.

"That's my mum!" Cried Annie.

"And that's my dad!" Replied Charlie.


	6. A Convoluted Plan

The girls stood in silence with their mouths wide open for a moment longer. They had thought it a strange occurrence that two people from different countries could look so freakishly similar, but neither had put 1+1 together and got "sisters"; not until they began to talk about parents and peculiar items of clothing.

"This is so incredible!" Charlie spoke through the tears that were threatening to fall, as they both lowered their sides of the photo.

"I know!" Annie replied, pulling her sister into a tight hug.

The rest of the evening was spent in a similar manner of shock, awe, and sheer joy at the almost unbelievable discovery, and the incredible circumstances that had brought them together after almost twelve years of separation. At dinner observers would have been able to see the two inmates of the isolation cabin not eating their meal in silence, chancing deadly glares at each other (as per usual), but in heated discussion, and with huge smiles painted across their faces. They both had had little (if any) time to interact with their friends from their previous huts, but that didn't seem to matter now. They had a sister; someone to share all the ups and downs of their family life with. Someone who could become closer than any friend made over the summer break, thousands of miles away from home.

"What's mom like?" Charlie spoke in a hushed voice that night. There was no need for the two girls to talk quietly; they were the only two people in the hut, and the nearest hut was a couple hundred yards away down the hill. However, the girls had pushed their beds together, and so the closer proximity made their normal talking volume seem slightly excessive.

"Well, she's very pretty, as you could see, and very funny. Aunt Lydia says that her ability to entertain was always one of her strongest points."

"Is aunt Lydia older or younger?"

"She's younger. Aunt Jane is the oldest, then mum, then aunt Lydia. I think aunt Lydia came over the England with mum, but aunt Jane stayed in New York with her husband Bing, and their children of course." Annie paused as she shifted her mind back onto the original question. "She's also really kind. Whenever I'm home from school ill, she always lets me on the internet or television, she gives me a hot water bottle, and all the chocolate stored in the house."

"That sounds great!"

"It is! But after a day or two it gets kinda boring, so I end up wanting to go back to school, and that's how she stops me from skiving!"

"Skiving?" Charlie inquired.

"It's slang. It means 'to deliberately miss' something."

"So like 'shirking'?"

"Yeah, I think so!" Annie smiled.

"Right. That makes sense. In that case she's also very clever!"

"She also has her own company. It's called Longbourn Media, and it specialises in what she calls 'fostering online talent'. I think that means she just finds good people online, and helps their career along somehow."

"That's pretty cool. Like, she helps vloggers and stuff?"

"Yeah, in fact I think she used to vlog, but I have no idea whether you can still watch it." Annie sighed. She knew it would mean more than anything to Charlie if they could just find something as personal as their mum's vlog and watch it.

"Well, dad's company Pemberley Digital specialises in app development."

"Hence, Illuminate Me!" Annie giggled.

"Yep! And he's just the best dad ever. He often takes me out on trips – just the two of us. All we do is chat and chat and laugh until it's late. Aunt Gigi is awesome as well. Nothing's too weird or embarrassing to talk about with her, and if dad gets a bit quiet and difficult to read, she's always there to talk to."

"He gets difficult to talk to?" Annie worried that she might not find him quite as friendly as she hoped.

"Well, not really. He's a bit socially awkward sometimes, and him being my dad it does mean that he does put his foot down occasionally. But he's still great to talk to – when you know him like family and friends know him."

"Ah! Ok. I wish I could know him like you know him."

"I wish I knew mom like you know her."

At this, Annie closed her eyes to try and imagine how her father walked, talked, sat, stood; everything that she couldn't already tell from the photo. However, instead of her father's face entering her mind, something else entirely came to her.

Annie sat up suddenly. "I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea!"

"What's that?" Charlie responded and sat up as well.

"Well, you've always wanted to know what mum's like, and I want to know what dad's like…"

"Yes?"

"And we're completely identical to one another…"

"And?"

"So why don't we switch places?" Annie's face lit up as she got to the point of her magnificent plan.

"Switch places?"

"It would be perfect! I could go back to San Francisco as you, and you could go back to London as me. We get to know the other parent, and then eventually, we tell them the truth. When we do, they'll have to unswitch us!"

The sheer genius of the plan began to dawn on Charlie's face. "And when they do, they'll meet face to face, after all these years!"

"Exactly!" Both the girls' faces were light up at the idea.

"But how can we do this? I mean, we both look the same, but we have different accents!"

"You heard how well I copied aunt Gigi from your voicemail, didn't you? The thing that gave it away in the end was me mentioning mum, and don't worry about my accent. I'll teach you."

"But we have to know everything about each other's cities, homes, rooms, family and friends, pets, whatever."

"We've got six weeks left. That's loads of time to learn that, especially if we're going to spend most of it in here."

"Do you really think this could bring them back together?" Charlie's questions and doubts were clearly lessening now.

"Well, I don't know about dad, but mum hasn't shown any sign of getting married again any time soon."

"Neither has dad."

"And they clearly still think about each other."

"How do you know that?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you exhibits A, B, and C." Annie spoke with all the snobbery she could muster as she lifted the newsie cap, bowtie, and plaid shirt off the chair next to her bed.

 

Three weeks into the girls' intensive "Be Like Your Sister" course, and things were advancing at a great pace. They had learnt the faces of their family, the faces of their school friends and teachers, the layout of their houses, and they were now beginning to learn more about each other's interests.

"So…he's an alien, and he travels in time and space in this blue phone box with pretty people?" Charlie's eyebrows knitted together.

"Well, they're not always that pretty, but yeah."

"Why?"

"Why? Because he chose to leave his home planet and fight evil and save the universe. Perhaps also a strong desire to be heroic, I guess." Annie's arms were flying all over the place, expressing her passion for the show.

"And he always travels with someone?"

"Yeah, because otherwise he'll get lonely. They're his companions."

"Do you have a favorite companion then?" Charlie enquired.

Annie pondered the question before replying with a short, "Marian".

 

Later that week, they made yet another startling discovery.

"Holy moley." Charlie muttered to herself whilst watching her phone over breakfast outside Saturday morning.

"What is it?"

"Well, you know how you mentioned that mom used to vlog?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I think I've found them."

"How? Where?"

"On this site – Youtube, it's called."

"Hey, I've heard of that!" Annie kicked herself in frustration. "Our parents' generation loves that site! I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

"Well, they're called 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries', and they were uploaded between April 2012 and March 2013." At this, Annie shifted round the picnic table to sit next to her sister, instead of opposite.

"Well, play them then!"

 

About this time, Annie was perfecting her Californian accent, and Charlie was making good progress on her RP English accent. Charlie had bemoaned as to why it seemed much harder for her to grasp her sister's accent, than it seemed to be for Annie to grasp Charlie's. Annie needed only to reply about how much more American media was available in the UK, as opposed to British media in America, and Charlie took that as a decent explanation. The very little time the two girls could interact with the rest of the camp (and their previous hut-friends) was nearly always spent imitating their sister, and by the end of the final week, their friends could hardly tell the two girls apart, until they noticed the hair length.

"You've gotta cut your hair, it's the only way it's gonna work." Charlie insisted whilst they regrouped after another switch which had very nearly failed.

"But I like my long hair! No. No no no, no. I won't do it. I just won't!"

"Oh c'mon!" Charlie practically threw some stale-looking mash potato on her tray for her dinner. "Dad and aunt Gigi are so not going to believe that I managed to grow my hair six inches over the course of eight weeks."

To this, Annie gave her sister a long side-glare, as much of her focus was on avoiding putting any food that was past its edible phase on her tray.

"Alright, alright." Annie began to tear up as she looked down at her tips brushing the top of her small pile of peas. "But please, please, "she emphasised, "be careful with the cut. Especially round the sides!"

Three hours and many long held breaths later, and the two sisters stood side by side at the mirror in the isolation hut. If it hadn't have been for the accents, no one would have been able to tell the difference.

"I think," Annie began in her best Californian accent, "we're ready."

Charlie replied in her RP voice. "Indeed we are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify, Marian is one of my own headcanon Doctor Who creations. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist mentioning her.


	7. Home

"Right, have you got your passport?" Annie asked her sister. It was the morning of leaving day, and the whole camp was standing around the main entrance, preparing for the call that their mode of transport away from here was ready to leave. The two girls had spent the last six weeks learning every last detail about each other, copying their accents, mimicking their mannerisms, and sharing their inner-most thoughts and feelings.

"I have it in my backpack. Have you got my cell? Sorry-mobile?" Charlie emphasised her correction. She didn't usually make slip ups like that now, but she blamed it on the nervousness.

"I have got your cell. Do you know when I'm going to be picked up?"

"Yeah, aunt Gigi said that she and James would be here by 11." She looked down at her watch. "Five minutes."

"Oh god I'm getting all kinds of spasms and flutterings in my heart." Annie began to jiggle on the spot.

"No need to be so melodramatic! They'll see right through that."

"Are you saying that I'm melodramatic and you're not?" Annie smiled.

"Oh please! The spider thing? Obviously you're melodramatic! Plus, you were raised by mom and aunt Lydia."

The two girls began to remember all that they'd watched on their mother's vlog. The costumes, the humour, the drama, the father. It wasn't difficult to see after that why the two girls had judged each other the way they did; it was what their parents had done to each other sixteen years ago.

"And you're getting picked up by the bus, dropped off in Bangor, getting a public bus to the airport_"

"_and then a plane to Heathrow. I know." Charlie looked at her sister with all the love she felt in her heart towards her. "It's ok."

A moment passed with the two girls smiling at each other, but it was then broken by the sound of a car horn. They looked through the trees they were hidden behind to find a black limo pulled up on the driveway.

"Charlie Darcy!" Kulp Jnr called out. "Charlie Darcy, your ride's here!"

"Gotta go now." Annie was beginning to tear up. "You'll text, and call and video call me, yes?"

"Absolutely!"

They gave each other one big last hug, before Annie picked up her bags and made her way over to the limo. James opened the door for her, took her bags, and she slid into the back, only to find her aunt beaming at her.

"Hey doofus!" Gigi greeted her.

"Aunt Gigi!" Annie couldn't hold herself back, and she launched at her aunt with her arms wide open, pulling the unsuspecting Darcy into a tight hug.

The plane from Bangor International to SFO was something unlike Annie had ever dreamt of before, and not simply because she was going to San Francisco (where she knew to be her place of birth from her passport) in First Class, but also because she was making this journey…with her father's sister.

A relative from her father's side of the family.

They'd talked all the way through the flight about the camp, the huts, the food, the friends she made (of course she omitted the part about meeting her identical twin sister), and the lack of wifi. Annie thought that her Californian accent held up quite well, judging by her aunt showing no sign of suspicion, though there were times when she thought she'd almost slipped, either in the accent or the dialect. She was also very self-conscious about her short hair; fidgeting and playing with it throughout the journey.

When they touched left the terminal building, Annie knew there was a high chance that the limo waiting for them would contain her father, and that's what she found, when the new chauffeur this side opened the door for her and her aunt.

"Charlie! It's so good to see you."

William Darcy.

Her father.

Her father was speaking to her, for the first time since she was a tiny baby.

"Hi. Dad. Hi!" Annie forced out.

"You have to tell me all about your time at camp."

"Do I have to?" Annie sighed. She desperately wanted to talk to her dad (obviously), but she knew that Charlie would have done the same here. "I've already said all of this to aunt Gigi. Can't she just tell you later?"

"But I would like to know now. I haven't seen you for eight weeks," Annie inwardly winced at this, "and I would hate to wait any longer to hear what you got up to."

"Fine!" She smiled. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"What did you get up to there?" William put an arm round his daughter, who was sat (and not squeezed, she noted) between him and his sister.

"I did swimming, and climbing, and painting, and canoeing, and...paintballing." She paused briefly at the memory of that game between huts 59 and 60. How ideal for them, she realised, that they were in those huts. Now she'd seen the videos she realised the significance of those numbers in her parents' life.

"That sounds exciting."

"And her team won, didn't you?" Gigi chimed in.

"Yeah! Although…I kinda cheated."

"You did?" William's ears pricked up.

"Yeah. I shared Illuminate Me with my hut mates and we used it to win."

"You know you shouldn't do that? We lose money every time you do with friends."

"I know , I know, which is why I'm sorry. Though it doesn't matter so much if we lose a little bit of money."

"It's not that good. That's money that would be going towards employees, and our charities."

"Ah, now you put it like that. I am very sorry, I won't do it again, I promise, I promise." Annie was almost begging now. She didn't want to fall out with her father on the very first meeting because of her sister's mistake.

He chuckled. "It's alright. I'm not mad."

After an hour, Annie was standing by the gate of the Darcy's house, gazing up at the impressive façade. It reminded her of Shakespearian Italy (in fact, she could easily imagine Benedick and Beatrice arguing in the gardens or the upstairs rooms), but it felt very homely. She could tell even from the photos that despite this being in the richest part of the city, it was no less a family home than a home with a history.

"Here we are again. Home sweet home." Gigi smiled at her niece's face. She couldn't quite read it, but she assumed that it was one of sheer relief to be home. What other explanation could there be.

 

Charlie had managed to get back to Bangor International on the buses without any trouble, and she'd met aunt Lydia there for the flight back. Even on first meeting, Charlie was put to the test with the Bennets' customary hello/goodbye dance. Despite her nerves, she managed to complete all the steps, link arms, and clap hands with her aunt as if she'd been doing this for many years. The flight back was as enjoyable as she imagined, though her aunt's Californian accent tested her ability to stay in character as Annie.

Stepping out of the terminal building, Charlie noticed her aunt dropping behind her, as they headed towards the short-stay car park.

"She said on the phone she was parked in section D."

This was going to test Charlie. Clearly aunt Lydia was expecting her to walk over to the car once she'd caught sight of it, but Charlie wasn't so sure that she'd been shown by Annie what the car looked like. She remembered being briefly seeing something silvery that resembled a car on Annie's phone, but she couldn't be sure. What if they had another car? Charlie was beginning to panic inside, but she was saved by a woman with auburn hair opening the door on the driver's side of a silver Citroën, getting out, and waving at them excitedly.

Her mother, Elizabeth Bennet.

Her real-life mother.

As they made it to the car, Lizzie had gone round to the trunk (boot – she corrected herself) and opened it, ready for the suitcases.

"Annie! Annie, oh my god, you're never going back again, I missed you too much!" Lizzie exclaimed as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. Charlie noticed that this wasn't the same Californian accent her mother spoke with in her videos all those years ago. No, this was a relatively new, RP English accent.

It was time for Charlie to see how her RP accent held up against her mothers. "I missed you too! But you're crushing my crisps."

"What?" Lizzie noticed her daughter pulling one of her arms back to her side and tapping the large pocket on the side of her jacket which was clearly bulging. "Oh, yes. Ok. I imagine you're really hungry after the flight?"

Charlie nodded.

"Well that's great because I have a whole pile of Chinese takeaway menus in the kitchen ready for us to order things from." She smiled.

At this, Charlie couldn't help but let out a snort. Of course Chinese takeaway would have some…illuminating…connotations for her family and it was only natural for her to think of that, especially considering she was relatively new to the videos. Nethertheless, Charlie chastised herself for letting herself show what she was thinking inside. Her mother and aunt didn't seem to notice though, or if they did they put it down to the rather funny thought of this huge pile of menus.

The journey from Heathrow to their house in Lambeth was incredible for Charlie, and incredibly challenging. She wanted nothing more than to be able to gaze in awe at ever last thing she saw and ask questions, but any such wonderment had to be kept as well hidden as possible. She'd already had a pretty close call (in her mind at least) with the Chinese menus. She couldn't afford any more, let alone another slip up in the same day. She talked expertly about the camp, the activities, the friends she made (excluding one particular friend), and Lizzie and Lydia lapped it up, whilst occasionally sharing one or two experience of theirs with summer camp. She thought back to when she first arrived, and one of the staff members at registration mentioned how her mother would have survived just fine without wifi. She'd joked to herself, thinking that she'd never know who her mother is (or was, potentially), yet here she was. Sat beside her mother. Secretly scheming a plan with her identical twin sister to get her mother and father back together.

They pulled up beside their house, and Charlie got out the car and headed to get her suitcase. Once all the suitcases were out and the boot was closed, they made their way up short path to the front door. Lizzie turned the lock and Charlie stepped in. She felt at home instantly.


	8. The Rebound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so things really start to kick off here! Comments are always very welcome.

Charlie just managed to prise open her eyelids the next morning. She wasn't quite sure what time it was (the jet lag had completely thrown her body clock out of whack), but she was certain that if she didn't get up now, she would never get up, and her stomach was already starting to protest at the thought of even another minute laying in her bed.

No, not her bed. This wasn't her bed. These weren't her sheets, or her pillow, and the light streaming through the curtains was coming from completely the wrong direction.

As reality hit her, she began to feel a bit overwhelmed by what had happened. She wasn't still at camp, discussing and training for some wild scheme her and Annie had concocted. She was living it. She was sleeping in her sister's bed, in her sister's room, and living her sister's life, whilst Annie was living hers. And her mother and aunt Lydia were downstairs.

Once she'd put on her (Annie's) dressing gown and slippers, she followed the smell of cooking and made her way downstairs into what she knew to be the kitchen from the diagram Annie made.

"Good morning!" Lizzie smiled as she moved to the side to reveal that she was frying something.

"Is that bacon?" Charlie tried to peer into the pan.

"Indeed it is. I imagine you've probably had quite a lot of bacon in the morning at camp, so I thought I'd make that for you, with scrambled eggs."

Charlie cringed inside at the thought of scrambled eggs; she only liked them fried or hardboiled. No matter though, because she would just try and mix it up with loads of ketchup and bacon and hopefully it wouldn't be so bad then.

"That's great, thanks mum!" She sat down on one of the stools by the counter. "So what have you got planned for me today?"

"Who says I've got anything planned for you? You're a big girl now Annie – you've just spent eight weeks alone on a different continent. I can't make you do anything. Well, not unless you need a lift or something." Lizzie turned off the heat and started piling the bacon strips and egg onto their plates. "No, I was wondering what you were planning on doing today."

"Well, I was going to finish unpacking_"

"Sounds like a good plan. Give me your washing before I leave for the office at 12 and I'll be able to get some on the go. Sorry, you were saying?"

"Then I was going to just…follow you around for a while. I've missed you mum! Can't I just spend some time with you? Even if you are working?"

At this, Lizzie couldn't help but smile, even if her mouth was a little bit too full for smiling. "I like the sound of that especially! I've missed you tons so I don't mind at all if you come with me to the office. Though I imagine it will get kinda boring for you after a while."

"What kind of stuff do you do in the office then?"

"You know what I do!"

"Yeah, but I don't know all the details. What's your schedule like? What will you be working on today? I've been out of the loop for eight weeks, mum. You might have filmed and released a huge hit since I've been away."

"I haven't! Though we are filming today. You could come with me to watch for a while, if you want."

"I'd love it. That would be awesome! What are you filming?"

"You know that!"

"I've forgotten. Eight weeks is a long time when you've only been alive for 11 and a half years."

To this, her mum pursed her lips before replying, "it's a modern web series adaptation of Anna Karenina."

"What's that, Shakespeare or something?"

"No!" She smiled. "It's Leo Tolstoy. A 19th century Russian writer."

"Ah! Do you like it then?"

"You know it's one of my favourites! Have you forgotten everything about me since you left?"

"Not everything! I know that you love to give your sweet, innocent daughter a rough time. And I know that you absolutely LOVE Chinese takeaway. Especially honey and walnut shrimp!"

To this, Charlie thought she saw her mother flinch slightly. She shifted in her seat, the corner of her mouths twitched, and her eyes flicked up to hers briefly before focusing on her breakfast again.

"I do tend to order Chinese a lot, don't I?"

"You should get some kind of discount card."

Charlie knew she was playing with fire again, bringing up something mentioned so heavily in her videos, but it was a good way to see whether her mother still thought about dad. She took the flinching as something of a positive sign then. She wasn't going to run off to her phone, call Annie, and tell her that it was time to unswitch…but it was something, she thought. Plus, this was only just the beginning of her and her mom's numerous epic adventures together.

 

It was the sound of laughter from outside her window that awoke Annie the next morning. The jet lag she was feeling now was nothing compared to that on the first day of camp, but this wasn't exactly a walk in the park, especially as her father and aunt Gigi had insisted they stay up and watch loads of repeats of old Family Feuds (Charlie had warned her about this – apparently the obsession started in their childhood).

Once she'd carefully rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she pulled back the thin veil curtains and peered out into the garden to see who she was going to have to murder tonight. It seemed the person in question was not someone she'd seen in any pictures. They were tall, blonde, wearing a sleek black dress that hugged their figure and a wide brimmed hat to match, and though Annie knew better than to assume someone's gender, they were most likely to identify as female to some extent (unless they were in drag, she thought). They also seemed to be standing very close to her father.

She opened the window ever so slightly to try and hear some of the conversation.

"Oh William, when are you planning on telling her? You can't hide me from her forever."

"No," Annie thought she saw a corner of his mouth tilt upwards slightly. "I was thinking about introducing you as soon as she's awake."

This was all she needed to know for now. She didn't want to hear any more. She either wanted to know everything, or know nothing, and this was certainly somewhere between everything and nothing. She jumped off her bed by the window, slipped into her slippers, put on a thin dressing gown, and shuffled her way out of her room, downstairs, and out to the garden as quickly as she could.

"Here she is!" William smiled as he met her and put a comforting arm behind her back. "Charlie, I want to you meet Madison Blair. Madison is a friend of Caroline Elton, who you might remember as Bing's sister. We met over the summer and…"

"…and, dad?" Annie's eyes were staring widely up at him.

"...and, we've begun…a relationship." He swallowed back the words.

There was a long pause, before Annie widened her eyes even more, and spoke in all seriousness. "Dad, you can't be dating so soon! You're still in rebound! You know that's always a bad idea!"

"Rebound?" He stared at Madison; shifting awkwardly. "Darling, I haven't dated anyone since_"

"_since mom? I know, but that was pretty recent. I don't think you should be dating so soon. It will only end with tears and heartbreak." With that, she stomped back inside the house.

"That was…twelve years ago, Charlie." William looked back at his daughter returning inside with confusion painted all over his face

Annie pounded up the stairs to her room and dialled the number under the name "Marian" and waited as it rang.

"Annie? How are you?!" Her sister's voice rang down the phone with a loud squeal. "Oh my god, mom is incredible! She cooked me bacon and scrambled eggs this morning and I know I hate my eggs scrambled but she was so nice to do that, and then we just talked and talked all breakfast, and then she took me to the office with her and we watched_"

"Charlie."

"_them film some web series of Anita Kranina or something_"

"Charlie!"

"_and we're going to go and watch a musical tonight and it's going to be about that kid in the chocolate factory_"

"CHARLIE!"

"Yeah, that's his name, but there's no need to shout!"

"No, Charlie you've got to stop yacking for a moment and listen to me! Dad has a girlfriend."

"Get out of here! Dad doesn't date. He's too socially awkward for that."

"Yeah well, not too socially awkward for her, clearly. She was practically all over him and it was gross. If dad's dating again, this is getting serious. We need to unswitch, right now."

"No, I won't! I simply won't. It's not that serious, and I've only just begun to get to know mom."

"But_"

"Annie, I'm not doing it. Talk to you soon."

With that, Annie was left hanging.


	9. You're A Better Woman Than I Am

"So you had a good time in the end?" Aunt Gigi asked her niece as the young girl sat on an inflatable sun lounger in the small pool in the garden of the Darcy family San Franciscan town house.  
"The best!"

It was only her third day with her father, but for Annie, it felt like it had been a lifetime. Of course she'd seen and heard how he talked, walked (a bit), and acted in her mum's videos, but all of that information was nothing to how much she learnt about him in just a little over 72 hours. For example, she'd learnt that he likes to have black coffee if the sun is up, and he only adds milk in the evenings. She also learnt that he was an early-greyer; his hair was like salt and pepper all over (of course, that was either not there, or not visible in the videos, but still).

"I hear you're planning on going shopping with him today."

"Yeah, I'm not sure when though."

"Hey darling!" At that moment, William walked through the doors out into the garden.

"Hey dad!" Her face lit up.

"Aren't you ready to go?"

"I didn't know when!"

"That's alright, just go get dressed and ready as soon as you can. There's no reason to hurry."

At this, Annie laid back on the inflatable, closed her eyes, and started to slowly drift towards the edge of the pool. He said there was no hurry, so why should she hurry?

"Oh, and I hope you don't mind, I've invited someone else along. Someone with far more experience with women's clothes than I do.

"Sure! Aunt Gigi you can help me pick some new shoes for school. I've grown out of my current ones."

"It's not your aunt, Charlie. It's me!" A woman's voice called out. Madison Blake's voice.

At this, Annie's eyes flashed open, her balance shifted dramatically from the shock, and her arms flailed everywhere to help her stay on the inflatable. It was to no avail, as everyone else witnessed a flurry of arms and legs, accompanied by a short cry, and a large splash.

"Are you alright, darling?" William asked as she resurfaced.

"Yeah, yeah! Fine! Never been better." She pushed the wet hair away from her face as she climbed the ladder out of the pool. "I'll just_" and she headed back inside.

Fifteen minutes later, Annie came gliding down the stairs into the main hallway.

"Ah! Here's the lady of the hour!" Madison practically forced out.

"The lady of the day, more like." William replied as he lifted his daughter up off the last step and into a hug, before placing her down onto the floor. "Today is about you."

"And…Madison?" Annie enquired.

"And Madison, of course. Today is for you two to get to know each other better."

"I can't wait!" It seemed to Charlie that Madison was forcing out quite a bit of pleasantry, probably for her father's sake (though she could be wrong. She didn't want to judge anyone before she knew them now, did she?).

"So, Charlie," Madison piped up from the passenger seat in the front of William's town car, "tell me all about your time at camp. I'm dying to know all about what you got up to." She spoke with little enthusiasm.

"Er, well…I did a lot!" Annie smiled, as she noticed Madison's attention shift immediately to her nails once she'd asked the question. It was a shame then that her dad was too busy focusing on the road to notice. Of course, Annie could tell all the stories she'd made up or edited for her dad and aunt's sake all over again, but this time, she decided on a new story. "I did rock climbing, and canoeing, and hiking_"

"You're a better man than I am, Ghandi Din." Madison interrupted.

"I'm sorry, what?" Annie's brows squeezed together in confusion.

"I can't hike. Too much effort for no benefit at all."

"No, I mean, what do you mean about Ghandi?"

"Oh you know, like the Wilfred Owen poem. 'You're a better man than I am Ghandi Din!'"

There was a short, but still very awkward silence.

"I believe," William cleared his throat, "I believe, it was written by Rudyard Kipling."

"And it's 'you're a better man than I am Gunga Din', not 'Ghandi'". Annie had to stifle her laugh.

"Well, some Indian anyway, and to be honest, what's the difference between Wilfred Owen and Ruddy whatshisname?"

"Well, it's true that they were both writing during the First World War, but there is a definite difference in style, and Wilfred Owen was writing first-hand accounts of the front line. Rudyard Kipling was not. Kipling often wrote about India, since he was born there, and he wrote children's stories as well. In fact, he's one of my favourites."

At this, Madison was silenced for a moment, until, "so Charlie, what else did you do?"

"Well, as I said, I did a lot of hiking_"

"I would have to disagree with you about the hiking as well, I'm afraid, honey." Spoke William again. Annie felt a little bit queasy at the sound of him calling her such an icky pet name as that.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. There are many benefits from hiking. Health benefits from the fresh air and sustained exercise, as well as the benefits of exploring somewhere new to you, and taking time out to interact with others on the way."

"Oh, well, I mean of course there are benefits! It's just that…there are no benefits to me at the moment." Madison coughed. "I feel like I'm coming down with something sweetie. Remind me to get some medicine at the mall." She turned her attention back to her nails.

"You were saying, Charlie?"

"I also did some paintballing, and I made loads of new friends! One time we set up this really good prank once. We managed to move all of the furniture of one of our rival huts onto their roof whilst they were doing rock climbing one afternoon."

At this, William let out a laugh, whilst Madison gave what Annie could only describe as something approaching a sideways glare.

"Who's 'we' darling?"

"Me and Marian. We were both put in hut 60. She's from England, actually!"

"Oh really? Where about? I've been there loads of times. I bet she and I would have so much to talk about!"

Annie almost let out a laugh at this, but her face remained as polite and friendly as before. "She's from Sheffield."

Madison's face went blank for a short while. "Oh! Oh! That's where that guy who plays Tony Stark is from!"

"You mean Ned Stark." William corrected.

"Who the hell is he?" Madison turned to him.

Once they had arrived at Westfield, Madison quickly opened her door, rushed round to open Annie's, and whilst William was distracted by getting out the recyclable bags from the trunk, she grabbed the young girl's arm and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Listen, punk. I don't know what your game is, but you're just going to have to accept that you're not the only girl in William's life anymore. Hate to break it to you angel, but there we are!" Her smug smile was painted as clear as day all over her face.

"Oh I know," Annie replied with a smile she thought was equal in smugness, "there's aunt Gigi too. But after eleven and a half years of her being around me and dad, I think I've accepted that fact."

Annie broke free of the woman's grip, and walked round to the trunk to follow her dad.

 

"I don't know why you we need to go shopping for clothes for me today," Charlie spoke to her mother as they walked down Oxford Street, "but I'm not complaining!"

"No, of course you're not. You're not the one having to pay!" Lizzie linked arms with her daughter carefully, so not to bash the bags round their arms together.

"Then why bother?"

"Because you need new school uniform. You're too old now to be wearing those juvenile little primary school dresses. You need mature, secondary school girl skirts and shirts."

"But you didn't need all this stuff when you were my age."

"No, but then that's because I grew up in America, isn't it? And I went to an American state school!" She smiled.

"Is that where you met dad? At school?"

This made Lizzie freeze on the spot.

"What's this sudden interest in your dad about?"

"Nothing! It's just_"

"Yes?"

"Well, I'm nearly 12, mum. That's practically a teenager! I've gone nearly my whole childhood without knowing anything about my dad, what he was like, where he came from, what happened, et cetera. Aren't I entitled to know?"

All Lizzie could do in response to this was sigh, and reply, "yes, you are. Well, we didn't meet at school. No, he went to a very different school. He is American though, and we met at a wedding."

"A wedding!" Charlie's mock surprise was quite believable, it seemed. Lizzie didn't bat an eyelid at this. "And was it love at first sight?"

Lizzie laughed. "No, no, it wasn't love at first sight."

"But was he your lobster?" Charlie gave a knowing smile.

"My-my what?" Confusion and worry flooded Lizzie's face. "Annie, my what?"

"C'mon mum! Quickly! It's our bus over there! Hurry!"

The topic of conversation was dropped during the rush to the bus. Once Charlie was back in her room in their house, and the bags had been unloaded, she checked her phone. At that exact moment, her phone lit up, telling her that 'Lisa S' was calling. Of course, she knew that number off by heart, given how many times she'd had to recite it to others.

She hit 'decline', and threw the phone onto the bed.


	10. Truth Is The Daughter of Time

Her phone kept on ringing intermittently over the next couple of days, and Charlie kept rejecting the calls. Though, despite the number of times she told herself that this was just her sister being paranoid aver someone she barely had barely known for a week, she couldn't budge the feeling that this might be something important. Long-distance phone calls still cost a fair bit for an 11 year old with no income besides a weekly allowance (or "pocket money", as Charlie was having to say around her mom and aunt whenever she felt she was due her £5). Annie wasn't going to waste money, but surely dad couldn't be in any danger? Not from another woman! No, no. This had to be paranoia, or something completely different.

And there was only one way to find out which it was.

The next time it rang, it was almost 10am, BST, and this time, Charlie picked up.

"Charlie! Oh thank god!" Her sister's voice rang down the line. "I thought you would never answer! What the hell? Why haven't you been answering?"

"Good to speak to you too, sis."

"This isn't funny, Charlie. Look_"

"Is it 3am there?"

"Yes, it is, because this is urgent. Listen to me! Dad's getting married."

"Married? Shut up! Dad's not getting married."

"He is. He proposed to that woman I mentioned before. They're planning it for December."

"What? How? What's she like?"

"She's awful. She's just after him for his money, it's so obvious, well to me at least. She's got him completely under her spell though! Just the other day, she was talking about how she was a Republican_"

"No way. Dad's a Democrat!"

"Exactly! And she was going on about how she'd voted for this Romney guy because he seemed to really care about business and everything and not about – and I quote – 'coddling the middle classes', and he was just nodding along whilst reading his tablet!"

"Oh god. This is bad news."

"Do you see why I wanted you to pick the phone up, now?"

"Ok, ok! No need to get angry. Our anger needs to be entirely directed towards that woman. What's her name?"

"Madison Blake."

"Ugh, even the same sounds fake."

"I know. She's a friend of Caroline Elton, apparently."

"That I can believe. You've seen the videos. You know that Caroline used to have a crush on dad purely because of his money and status."

"We're going to have to unswitch, and REALLY soon."

At this, Charlie let out a defeated sigh. "Yeah, your right."

"I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"It's alright. This is what's important. If we succeed at this, then I'll have all the time in the world to get to know her again."

"Exactly."

"I'll try and figure out a way of telling her this evening."

"Ok. I'll talk to you tomorrow at some point."

"Yeah."

"Now…I need to get some sleep!" Annie said through a yawn.

"Go! Go up the stairs to Bedfordshire."

Annie cringed. "Wow. I can't believe how quick you picked up the dialect! Literally everybody says that in London!"

"Hey, I'm all about giving a realistic performance. Just yesterday I complained about the terrible weather we've been having in front of aunt Lydia."

"Ok, I'm hanging up now."

"Night night! Don't let the bed bugs BITE!" Charlie managed to squeeze in before Annie ended the call.

"Who was that?" Lydia spoke from the doorway. Charlie could have sworn that she'd shut the door fully.

"Oh! Just a friend from camp. H-how…I didn't hear you enter!"

"You left the door slightly ajar. What's this friend's name?"

"Lisa! She's really great. She's from California!"

Charlie could feel her aunt's gaze almost digging into her and reading her soul. Nevertheless, she kept her smile steady under the pressure.

"Annie, being Longbourn's resident psychologist has its advantages, you know. I can tell when people are lying pretty instinctively now." Lydia sat down on next to her niece on the bed. "C'mon, who is Lisa, and what's all this about a performance?"

"Oh, you were standing there a long time. Mum always tells me not to be nosy!"

"Yeah well, her advice can kinda suck occasionally."

"I'll tell her you said that!" Charlie lept up from her bed. Her smile was beginning to falter now.

She was stopped by her aunt's sturdy grip around her wrist. "Occasionally." She emphasised. "Now, 'time to spill the beans' time, kiddo."

There didn't seem much point in keeping it from her any longer. She was going to know by this evening anyway. So Charlie wiped the nervous smile off, and began to tell the truth.

 

Madison was infuriating. Her dad was infuriating. This whole situation was beyond the description of the English language, and muttering the few Punjabi profanities that she'd learnt from her friend Jasmeh didn't seem to be helping. Eventually, she fell back onto a sofa in the living room, and covered her face with her hands.

"Ugh, tatte chaude."

"Something you'd like to share with the class, eh Charlie?" A voice rose from behind the couch.

"Sheesh! Aunt Gigi, what are you doing?"

"I'm searching for the remote to an old TV of mine that used to be in here. A stressor you kids won't be familiar with these days, with your…voice recognition." She dipped her head behind the couch again.

"You gave me a fright."

Her head popped up again. "I gave you a fright? That doesn't sound like you."

"Well, I mean," Annie stuttered, "I made a British friend…whilst at camp!"

"Yeah, you mentioned. Her name's Marian right?"

"Right!"

"And you've picked up a few of her expressions."

"Exactly!"

"You do seem to be getting very interested in Britain at the moment," Gigi's eyes narrowed, "what with all those British shows, and British music…and British expressions. Oh, and was that Hindustani you were swearing in?" Her face creased up like her brother's often did when confused, she noticed.

"Punjabi."

"Hm. They don't teach that at schools here."

"Nor in the UK." Annie muttered.

"Oh really?"

Awkward silence.

"Oh tatti."

"Charlie, what's going on?" Gigi came to sit beside her niece on the couch. "You've got to tell me the truth."

"Ok, ok, but you can't speak a word of this to dad, kapeesh?"

"Kapeesh."

"Right_"

"Maybe 'kapeesh' will be our 'always'." It was Gigi's turn to mutter to herself, now.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, go on. You were saying?"

"Well, I did go to camp and make some new friends as I mentioned, but I didn't meet Marian."

"You didn't? Who's Marian then, and why do you have her number?"

"Marian doesn't exist. She's fictional. That's not her number. That's…my number."

"Why do you have your own number on your own phone, under a fictional name?"

"Because this isn't my phone."

"Charlie! C'mon, quit joking."

"I'm not."

"Ok, so if this isn't your phone, then where's your phone, and who's phone is this?"

"This is Charlie's phone, and my phone's in London, in Charlie's pocket."

At this, Gigi went dead silent for what felt like an eternity to Annie.

"Charlie's in London?" To this, Annie simply nodded. "Then…Annie?!" Her eyes widened. "Annie?! Oh my god!" She squealed; wrapping her in her arms. "What? What the hell?"

"We met at camp, and when we realised we were sisters, we decided to switch." Annie dropped her Californian accent. "She wanted to meet mum and aunt Lydia, and I was DESPERATE to meet you and dad, and…I hope you're not mad?"

"Mad? No! God, no. But…why would you do it so secretly?"

"Well_" and this was where Annie knew she might get a scolding, "if we did it secretly, eventually they would have to unswitch us, and when they did, they would have to meet up again."

"Ooooh!" A sneaky smile started to emerge on Gigi's face. "Now that is a plan even myself and Fitz would be proud of!"

"Oh, I know! We found mum's videos!"

"You did! This is incredible!"

"I thought you would be angry at me for being involved in this. Shouldn't we all be supportive of dad and Madison?"

"Oh yes, we should." Gigi's smile disappeared with a little too much sudden earnestness. "But deep down, we can still try and hope for things to turn out differently!" A corner of her mouth turned upwards again. "I see the way that Madison twists him round her finger."

"She's also really mean to me. You know she tried to get rid of my Harry Potter books because she said that they were evil?"

"No, she didn't!"

"Yes, she did!"

"No, she didn't. She tried to get rid of Charlie's Potter books. Your books, I imagine are on a shelf far far away." They both smiled again. "So, when are you planning on beginning the unswitching?"

"Well, Charlie's going to tell mum and aunt Lydia this evening, which," she looked at the time on her phone, "could be any time now, and she'll call me once it's done."

 

"You ready kiddo?" Lydia placed a comforting hand onto her anxious niece's back, as they stood outside the closed door to Lizzie's room. "The door's not going to open by itself, and those words aren't going to be spoken without your mouth."

Charlie looked up at her aunt's soft smile whilst biting down on her lower lip. She lifted her hand, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Her mother's chirpy voice sounded from within.


	11. Anxious Excited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay! It's been a hectic few weeks, but hopefully this'll make it up to you a little bit. Also a forewarning, there might not be an update on the 18th December, as I might still be recovering from surgery then, and also there won't be one on xmas day, so I'll try and make it up by doing a xmas eve double bill or something like that. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

"Annie! What seems to be the problem?"

Charlie hurtled towards the bed where her mother was working from with her laptop, and jumped under the covers.

"Annie!" She rummaged about to try and rest a hand on her daughter. "Annie, what's all this about?"

Silence again.

"Annie c'mon. Talk to me, what's the matter."

"How can Annie talk to you right now?" A voice squeaked from underneath the sheets.

"Ok, stop joking now. You can refer to yourself in first person."

"Annie can't talk to you right now."

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because Annie's in San Francisco with her dad and aunt."

At this, Lizzie went silent, before pulling back the duvet.

"Charlie?" She let out in sharp exhale.

"Howdy." She let a corner of her mouth turn upwards in a half-smile.

"Charlie?! Oh my god!" Let enveloped her in a tight hug. "My dear. What the hell?" She pulled her back to look at her face. "Why? How?"

Charlie now felt enough freedom to drop her fake accent. "We met at summer camp, and when we realised, we both wanted to meet the other parent."

"So you switched places?"

"Yep!"

"So, I've had you here all this time, whilst Annie's been with your father?"

"Uhuh. You're not mad, are you?"

"Mad? Oh honey how could I ever be mad?" She wiped back a couple of tears. "I haven't seen you since you were a tiny baby!"

Lizzie pulled Charlie into another hug, and they sat like that on the bed, not saying a thing, for a few minutes. Charlie would breathe in the smell of the fabric softener her mother used, happy in the knowledge that she was finally able to be honest and open about who she was, her life, her experiences, and that her mother knew her again. Lizzie would softly brush the red hair on the back of Charlie's head, and reminisce on how it felt like only yesterday she'd held this little girl in her arms like this for the last time, shortly before she got on that flight to London with Annie and Lydia after the divorce and custody terms had been settled. She couldn't say that she'd she didn't regret anything about what had happened almost twelve years ago. It all seemed so trivial now, and yet so important, not least because of the impact it had had on everyone's lives.

Eventually though, a pressing question entered her mind, and she pulled away.

"Wait, Charlie, when were you planning on swapping back again? You can't have expected to go your whole life as Annie."

"No, no. We were probably going to try and unswitch again by the end of summer break, but we thought," Charlie paused – she wasn't going to give everything away now, "it might be easier on you both and us, if we gave each other a bit more time before school starts again. You know, to unswitch us, and get settled back in again."

"And have you planned this unswitch yet?"

"Almost. We just need to arrange a date and place if that's alright with you." At this, Charlie could see her mother's smile falter slightly. "It's ok, he's really anxious to see you."

"Anxious nervous, or anxious excited?"

"Oh, anxious excited. Definitely!"

 

"Charlie how did it go?" Annie spoke in a half voice in her room. She knew that her dad was standing close outside her door, talking to aunt Gigi, who had just been in to talk to her about the unswitch.

"It was so great, oh my god you have no idea. She's was just so kind and understanding about it. Plus, I think she might be more open to the idea of seeing dad again that we originally thought."

"That's fantastic. Aunt Gigi's just asking dad when he's free to go out somewhere for a day, and as soon as I get an answer, I'll tell you, and we'll meet up there and give him a shock."

"Give them both a shock more like. I think mom might be just as surprised to find that we've been meddling and he didn't know we were coming than dad seeing her again, out of the blue."

"Maybe."

At that moment, Gigi knocked on the door before opening it, and creeping in.

"Wait, Charlie hold on for a moment, aunt Gigi has news I think."

"He says that he's sorry, but he's so unbelievably busy this week that there's no way we can go out somewhere, just the three of us."

"Oh." Annie replied dejectedly.

"But…"

"I like the sound of this but!"

"He did say that on Friday he's showing Madison's parents round Pemberley Digital, and so he's not going to be working from dawn till dusk."

"So…they could surprise him then?"

"I suppose so." Gigi gave a cheeky grin.

"Are you going to push them both into an office again?"

"I might do. We'll see how it plays out."

"Ok, stay here for a moment. I'll tell Charlie that." She put the phone back up to her ear. "Charlie? He's not got any day free any time soon when he can take us all out somewhere, but he's not going to be doing much work on Friday, because he's showing Madison's parents round Pemberley Digital for the day."

"And we'll come along and crash the party? I like the sound of that."

"Is it too soon for you to get here?"

"Just wait a moment. Mom's in the other room I'll just see." Annie heard a bit of scuffling, and then through the line she heard, "Mom, Annie says that dad says that he's free this Friday. We can meet and unswitch at Pemberley Digital. Is that alright? Can we get there in time?" "She says that's fine. We'll catch a flight at Friday lunchtime, and be there at Friday mid morning."

"You're just a bunch of time travellers, aren't you?" Annie smiled.

"Hey, you did change your phone number's name to that of one of the Doctor's companions!"

 

"Mom, dad, this is the most incredible man in the world and the love of my life, William Darcy." Madison introduced as her and her parents stepped out of the limo that had collected them from the airport in front of the offices.

"Marlon. Cynthia. Welcome to Pemberley Digital." William spoke, offering them a hand.

"Thank you very much, my dear. Marlon, this is incredible!" Mrs Blair stared in awe up at the numerous floors above, and the bright glass entrance to the atrium just in front of them.

"It is indeed. You've built up quite an impressive establishment here." They began to head into the atrium. "I understand that you took over the company at very young age."

"Yes. My parents died when I was 18 and I took over then."

At that moment, they stepped through the entrance, and out of nowhere, William felt someone a lot smaller than him crash into his side and encircle his waist with his arms.

"Charlie? I didn't realise you were coming in today?" He smiled.

"Yeah, I wanted to help aunt Gigi with the logo for the new app."

He turned towards the Blairs. "Mr and Mrs Blair, may I introduce my daughter, Charlie."

"Pleasure to meet you, darling!" Cynthia leant down to Charlie's height. "You can call me aunt Cynthi!"

Annie replied with only a look of confusion and a forced smile.

"Now," William carried on, "let me show you all the facilities here on the first floor."

 

"And you-you're suuuure that he is going to look worse than me?" Lizzie slurred, almost falling out of the limo at the front of the offices just half an hour later.

"I can't guarantee that, mom." Charlie winced, before staring at aunt Lydia with worry.

"She almost never drinks this much." Lydia whispered to her niece. "In fact, she always used to scold me for how much I drank."

"Oh, I know. I've watched the videos." Charlie offered her mother a hand to steady herself as she put her heels back on.

"The wonderful hypocrite she is."

"And we love her for it."

"I don't think you or I would be standing here right now if not for it!" Lydia joked.

"I wouldn't be here, period."

"Are you guys t-talking about me?"

"Of course we are, Lizzie. You offer such great entertainment." Lydia retorted.

"I do try and please my audience!"

 

"So William, I hear that you and Madison are thinking of having the wedding at Grace Cathedral. Why not have the whole affair here? It's such a beautiful venue." Marlon piped up as the group headed towards an elevator.

"Well, partly because this is a place of work, and I wouldn't want to disturb the employees. Also because that cathedral has been witness to quite a few important events in my life."

At that moment, he entered the elevator after the rest of the group, and turned around to face the doors. As they began to close though, an aged version of the face that he hadn't seen in almost twelve years appeared in front of his eyes once more. He viciously pushed on the button to open the doors again, but by then it was too late, and Lizzie's face slipped from his view.


	12. Wet Shirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after what must have been 10? 11? Months, my ADHD brain decided it wanted to carry on writing this story. Perhaps someone with ADHD shouldn't've attempted to write such a long fanfic, and promise to have a new chapter every thursday. But in my defense, I didn't know I had it when I started this! I can't guarantee that this fanfic will ever be finished, but I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

“What the hell was that all about?” Lizzie interrogated her daughters in Gigi’s office; both Annie and the owner of the office had managed to slip away from William, when they got a text from Charlie, with some excuse about “ _needing to finish off the graphics for the game, and I need to Charlie to test it for me_ ”.

“What was what all about, mum?” Annie replied in as angelic a voice as she could muster.

“I think I know the answer to this, but why did he look at me as if he had no idea that I would be here today?”

“Because he didn’t know that you would be here today.” The girls said in unison.

Lizzie paused for a moment to take it in. Also, because her head was spinning from the alcohol very slowly wearing off or the…dizziness (she winced at the thought); she couldn’t quite be sure. She didn’t like the idea of either at moment.

“And so this was all just some plot to…get us back together, was it?”

“No mum! How could you say such a thing?”

“Well, maybe… a little.” Charlie admitted. “We did really want to see the other parent as well. It wasn’t all about the shipping!”

Lizzie let out a sigh as Gigi came bounding out of the walk-in-wardrobe in her office, wearing a bikini and floppy, wide-brimmed hat. “I should’ve guessed that you had something to do with this!”

“Hey!” Gigi protested. “This was way more subtle than pushing the two of you into a room. At least admit that I’ve gotten better at it.”

“True, but what are you doing in that?”

Gigi looked as if she’d just been asked why it was hot outside. “Because. I’m. Going. Swimming.”

Just then Lydia appeared from the wardrobe, also bikini-clad. “We’re both going swimming.”

“You’re going swimming?”

“Ugh, Lizzie, I’ve been swimming again for years.” Gigi pulled a pose in front of the mirror.

“Yeah well, forgive me…for not speaking too much to you over the past twelve years.”

“All is forgiven Lizzie B, now,” Gigi grabbed Lydia’s arm and linked it with hers, “we’re going bathing!” And with that, the two of them, walked out the office.

Lizzie squinted at the two of them as they left. Was it just the alcohol, or were they_? She shook her head briefly to clear her mind, as if it were some kind of etch-a-sketch that needed to start a fresh. “Now, despite my...dazed appearance, I am very cross at both of you!”

“Wow mom, you really did pick up some of the lingo didn’t you?” Charlie smiled.

“Of course she did. Being angry is something she was towards dad. Being cross isn’t. She’s getting rid of the association.” Annie replied with smug look.

“Oh shut up! Now…I’m going to go down to the bar, to get something to…clear…whatever the hell is this is,” she gesticulated wildly, with hands flying all around her head, “and when I am back to my usual self, I will talk to you about what kind of punishment will suit this crime. Possibly detention or the dunce cap.”

“Great, now she’s a school teacher.” Charlie let out with a sigh.

“On the rare occasions she’s drunk, she’s usually Margaret Thatcher.” Annie replied.

“Now that I’d like to see. Anyway mom, we’re probably going to just go up to the pool too.”

“Yeah, we’ll keep an eye on aunts Gigi and Lydia.”

“Good plan. I’ll see you there…at some point.”

 

Forty eight minutes later Lizzie collapsed onto a barstool and her head plummeted onto the wooden surface of the bar without a single sound of pain from her. She flung her arms out to encircle her head, and Madison, who was finishing off her Cosmopolitan, looked on with concern and silently alerted the bartender to the woman who was now moving closer to “seriously hungover” territory.

“What can I get you Ms Bennet?”

Lizzie raised her head to look at the man who seemed to remember her. It was such a shame she couldn’t say the same thing for him. “Bloody Mary, please and thank you. Oh! And could you put in double the amount of Worcestershire sauce. I’ve developed a liking for that stuff over the past twelve years.”

“Sure thing, Ms Bennet.”

Madison’s face had turned inquisitive. “Ms Bennet?”

Lizzie looked up at her blonde companion.

“Ms Lizzie Bennet? Of Longbourn Media?”

“The very one.”

Madison’s face lit up. “Oh this is incredible! I just finished watching Nick Carraway’s Notes, and your sister’s fashion vlog that you host…what is it called again? Looks By Jane! It’s truly incredible. I learnt so much about accessorizing vintage from her.”

“I’m glad.” Lizzie forced out a smile. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” She turned to the barman who plopped her Bloody Mary down in front of her. “Thank you.”

“Madison. Madison Blair.” She offered out her hand, which Lizzie shook with her left hand crossing over to Madison to her right, as her right hand was occupied with the cocktail. “Didn’t you use to collaborate with Pemberley Digital?”

Lizzie snorted into her drink. “Yeah. Yeah I did. Or rather, we did.”

“Such a shame that came to an end. What happened, may I ask?”

“Oh…I guess you could say we broke up because of artistic differences. He saw himself as alive…and I saw him DEAD.”

Madison’s eyes widened as she jolted back a bit in response.

“Sorry…sorry. I do love that song.”

“Oh, I totally understand. The corporate game is a funny one. I totally get what you mean.”

“I’m not sure you do” Lizzie said in a half voice, as she towered over her glass and started lapping the concoction up like a cat.

“Well, I’ve got to go and meet my fiancé now, but it would be an honour, Ms Bennet, if you would take my card. Madison Blair. I specialise in high-end VIP parties, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Bat Mitzvahs, even divorce signings! If you ever have an event to plan, please do consider me. I would NOT let you down!” She smiled, slipped her card next to the Bloody Mary, and walked away as gracefully and fashionably as she usually was around someone she didn’t know, but followed on Twitter.

 

“There you are!” William sat up from his sun lounger and put down his copy of _Go Set A Watchman_. “I was beginning to worry you’d gotten lost in the aquarium.”

“Oh no.” Madison smiled as she sat down on the neighbouring sun lounger, and began to rummage through her clutch bag. “No, I was just enjoying a lovely Cosmo at that gorgeous bar on the first floor. Good plan placing it there.”

“The last thing we wanted was for people to hurt themselves going down stairs after having a few too many.”

“Yes, well, there was one woman there who looked like she’d had a few too many. Ordered a Bloody Mary, and it turns out I follow her on Twitter! Guess who seemed more “with it” and in control of her life to the barman – what’s his name? Emmanuel? Bartholomew?”

“Zac.”

“Oh well, something Muslim, I knew.”

William couldn’t help but wince at this.

“The point is, I felt so incredible about myself walking away from her, knowing I was fully in control of myself, and she was sipping her drink like a cat and singing showtunes like a lunatic.” Madison found her lip lacquer and her compact and proceeded to apply the bright pink colour onto her lips.

“Oh look! There she is now! She’s managed to find her way up to the pool then without causing serious damage.”

A single glance up towards the woman in question was all William’s brain needed to see before, almost as a reflex, it forced him to stand up and without taking his eyes off her, make his way towards his ex-wife. She was searching around for someone, or something. Strangely, he hoped it was him, but clearly she hadn’t noticed him yet. He frantically navigated the other people walking and standing around the pool; dodging left and right, almost like a dance. Memories of their first dance at the Gibson wedding flashed through his mind, followed by their first dance as a married couple.

“Dad!”

William’s head darted left to Charlie in her yellow top and jeans.

“Dad!”

His head darted right to see Charlie in a blue top and jeans. _How did she change so quickly? How did she get over there?_ No matter, his head snapped back to Lizzie as his foot caught the leg of a sun lounger and he went plummeting head first into the pool, and splashing his ex-wife in doing so.

He swam underwater towards the edge of the pool again, hoping she wouldn’t see him, but as his head emerged above the waterline, he spotted the cream, strapped heals she had been wearing before his little swim. He pulled himself up out of the pool, and felt a reasonable bit of embarrassment at realising that he was standing in front of his ex-wife, wearing a wet shirt that was stubbornly sticking to his torso.

“William.” She mustered up a small smile.

“Lizzie”.


End file.
